When I first thought about posting a list of YA recommendations with LGBT themes, I thought it was going to be easy to pick a few favorites, but I was wrong. Love, loss, angst, healing, friendship, and growing up and into oneself are universal, and as with many genres, there are flat out too many excellent voices to pick only a few, and I want to know the stories of people whose experiences are different from mine, so here are five more examples of the stories that have stuck with me the most. gain, no particular order, and all are, as far as I know, own voices stories, and standalones.

Deposing Nathan, Zack Smedley: This book, oh man, all the love. Told in non-linear fashion, we learn how it was that Nate and his best friend, Cam, came not only to blows, but a near-fatal scuffle that now has the legal system involved. The added bonus here is that Nate is equally rooted in his orientation, and his Christian faith, truly desiring to reconcile both truths about himself and live his most honest life. Gripping, raw, and real, this is a five star read for me, and I will pick up Zack Smedley’s next book by only his name on the cover. I’m sold.

I Wish You All the Best, Mason Deaver: When Ben DeBacker comes out to their parents as nonbinary, they toss him out of the house without even shoes on their feet. Where can they possibly go while processing such betrayal? To the only person who can understand, their estranged older sister, Hannah, who immediately comes to get Ben and brings them to live with her and her husband, Thomas, a teacher at the school Ben will attend for the next year. Hannah and Thomas don’t have all the answers, but they want to ask the right questions, and guide Ben as Ben charts his own path in life, art, and love.

If I Was Your Girl, Meredith Russo: Meredith Russo is another writer whose books I will pick up by name alone. In her debut novel, Ms. Russo hits the sweet spot of heartbreaking and heartwarming, as we journey with Amanda, a trans girl looking for a fresh start in a new school. She is strongly attracted to classmate Grant, but unsure of how much to share about her past. She also has some ups and downs reconnecting with her divorced father, with whom she now lives.

Symptoms of Being Human, Jeff Garvin: In Riley Cavanaugh’s own words, “The first thing you’re going to want to know about me is: Am I a boy, or am I a girl?” This is how Riley starts the anonymous blog on the advice of their therapist. Riley, a genderfluid teen, has a voice, but how to use it, when they are settling into a new school, their conservative congressman father is running for reelection, and everybody has expectations of who Riley is or should be. The blog takes off, creating a community, but when Riley’s identity is leaked, that’s when Riley has to decide who they are and what their future will be.

Annie on My Mind, Nancy Garden:

There is a lot to love about this book. Not only is it a seminal work of contemporary YA, one of the first with LGBT themes (and certainly with a happy ending)but the author’s voice is so lyrical that it’s almost like music. Not a lot is actually shown of Annie’s musical talent, but it’s infused through the story, told entirely from Liza’s point of view. Two teenage girls, from two different worlds, who find love in each other, the story of their growing relationship interspersed with a letter Liza may or may not send to her estranged beloved, Annie, grabs readers by the heart and doesn’t let go. Annie, it’s raining. From those three words, the first three that came to the author when she began putting Annie and LIza’s story to paper, I knew this story had me. The scene, early on, where Liza first encounters the enchanting Annie, in a museum, on a rainy November afternoon, instantly earned a place as one of my all time favorites. It’s not easy to be two young women in love in the late 1970s/early 80s (the book was published in 1982) and both Annie and Liza learn this firsthand, but that’s part of the magic of growing up, getting through the things we think will break us, and learning who our people, family, and chosen family, truly are.

I had a lot of fun coming up with these lists, so will probably be adding more recommendations, both YA and historical romance, maybe a few other things, in future posts. If there’s a topic or trope you’d like to see me cover, drop it in the comments, and I will see what I can do. If you’d like to follow me on Goodreads, to keep up with what I’m reading as well as new releases, I would love to be Goodreads friends, which can happen right here.